We had a chance to spend some time checking out Criterion Games' latest take on Electronic Arts' venerable Need For Speed franchise. The UK-based division of EA takes their second crack at the series (2010's Hot Pursuit was the first), and opens up the street-racing-beleaguered city of Fairhaven— this time around, if one can see a surface, one can drive on it.

Those accustomed to sims will require a series of adjustments. Though the sounds of the cars are accurate and the performance envelope of the vehicles included is based in reality, the overall attitude is suspension-of-disbelief arcadey, rather than, “Hey! I just beat Randy Pobst's time around Laguna Seca in a GT-R! A GT-R on slicks from the comfort of my couch, but still!”

No, the enjoyment in NFS:MW comes from utter escapist lunacy. Jumping through billboards with Crown Victorias and Chargers falling all around you, for example.

The piece of the game that Criterion really concentrated on, and what was most interesting to us, was the social angle. Perform a more radical jump through a billboard than your friend and your face replaces his. Blow past a speed camera and see how fast your friends went through it.

Spend time before a team event smashing each other up, then work together to accomplish a common goal. The sickening chestnut “frenemies” is about as good as a descriptor as anything when it comes to describing one's fellow outlaws in the game. No honor among hoons and all that.

While Turn 10's Forza Horizon grafts a level of racing-sim behavior onto an outrageous open-world environment, Need For Speed: Most Wanted offers the player a chance to live completely outside the bounds of reality.

We'll have a head-to-head comparison review coming once we have a chance to sit down with both games for some extended play.